Free wheeling is a term applied to an automobile transmission constructed so that the engine drives the wheels, but the wheels cannot drive the engine. The free wheeling feature for automobiles was actively proposed in the 1930's, but has not been accepted by the public because it takes away a desired braking effect of the engine when slowing down. Because free wheeling is desirable under certain operating conditions and is undesirable under other operating conditions, systems were proposed to provide a lever convenient to the automobile operator by which he could select to operate either under the free wheeling mode or the direct drive mode. Such manually controllable arrangements are described in the following U.S. Patents Nos.
1,967,539 -- July 24, 1934 -- Roos "Freewheeling Device"
2,034,335 -- March 17, 1936 -- Fisher "Control Mechanism"
2,064,230 -- Dec. 15, 1936 -- Starr "Freewheeling Mechanism"
2,144,160 -- Jan. 17, 1939 -- Kolb "Auto Clutch Mechanism"
However, automobile drivers apparently have not been willing to be bothered by another lever requiring their attention in order to have the advantages of free wheeling without its disadvantages.